The Saint John Sea Dogs won the first-overall showdown on Sunday, but the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada evidently won the larger battle since Pierre-Luc Dubois will be theirs after the world junior championship.
One unintended consequence of the QMJHL’s holiday-season trading period is it often creates an element of mystery, since a transaction cannot be finalized until about a week before Christmas. In this instance, publicly knowing the destination of the best player available could have an interesting effect on the mindset of the other top teams who are buyers.
Dubois, as reported by TVA Sports’ Mikaël Lalancette, is headed to Blainville-Boisbrand from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The No. 3 overall choice of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who hails from the Laurentides region of Quebec, will have the chance to play close to home with a franchise that has yet to make a league final since moving to Blainville in 2011. Suffice to say, with Dubois aboard, the Armada power play would figure to improve from 14th in the 18-team league.
What’s worth following is how the rest of the contenders respond, particularly Saint John GM Trevor Georgie and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who were, if there is such a thing, a close second in the Dubois sweepstakes. The next ‘big get’ is Carolina Hurricanes first-rounder Julien Gauthier, the 40-goal scorer whose Val-d’Or team is in turnaround. Gauthier also comes with championship experience, since he was a rookie when Val-d’Or went to the MasterCard Memorial Cup semifinal in 2014.
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While it’s been hotly denied, there was also speculation that 18-year-old Saint John defenceman Luke Green, a one-time No. 1 overall pick, asked to be moved. Whether there’s anything to that, it is does seem obvious that Saint John will have to respond.
The simplest explanation is that what happened in the trade period the last time Saint John was a powerhouse is still fresh. In 2011-12, then-Saint John GM Mike Kelly didn’t meet the ante to get either of the two best defencemen available, Morgan Ellis and Brandon Gormley. Both ended up in Shawinigan and won the Memorial Cup, denying Saint John a chance to repeat and remembered as one of the best teams in recent history. While it’s a different regime in Saint John, one can imagine the lesson about not pushing in all the chips has not been forgotten. It’ll be interesting to see how Georgie and coach Danny Flynn will decide to go ahead.
Merkley masterpiece
The Guelph Storm were not playing with a man advantage when OHL first-overall choice Ryan Merkley delivered his entry for the goal of the year contest on Sunday; it only seemed that way. The 16-year-old defenceman basically looked like Barry Sanders, on skates, as he made a spin move, a quick fake and toe-drag past Kingston’s Zack Dorval and Ryan Cranford before snapping the puck home from the slot.
Merkley is third in rookie scoring with 21 points across 25 games, again, as a defenceman. No 16-year-old D-man has had more than 35 points in the OHL since Ryan Murphy, now of the Hurricanes, had 39 with the Kitchener Rangers in 2009-10. In any event, the beauty of Merkley breaking out at age 16 is it leaves time to just enjoy the heady play before Hockey Twitter plunges into a year-long debate next season about his defensive-zone play.
DiPietro, Spitfires play Scrooge
Pro tip for marketing departments: the opponent for the Teddy Bear Toss game matters. The Windsor Spitfires’ Michael DiPietro is on the shortlist of the best 17-year-old goalies on the planet and Windsor also has Montreal Canadiens super-prospect Mikhail Sergachev manning the blue-line like a barracuda. During a Central Division swing last week, the Spitfires were the visitors for Barrie, Sudbury and North Bay’s Teddy Bear games – and won by shutout each time.
Like a child on Christmas morning, taking part in what’s become a holiday tradition in the CHL is as much about the anticipation. How quickly will the home team score? Which player will do the honours? Instead, fans had to toss their bears during the mid-third period media timeout.
Still no goal from the @OHLBattalion but that doesn't mean we can't toss teddy bears! pic.twitter.com/9uuyWoy8HU
— Joey Slattery (@joeyslatteryCTV) December 11, 2016
DiPietro, who’s on a 204-minute 16-second shutout tear, leads the OHL with a 2.11 average and .922 save percentage.
Canadian NHL team prospect of the week: Dylan Wells, G, Peterborough Petes (OHL)
Arguably one of the more athletic goalies in the CHL, the Edmonton Oilers’ fifth-round choice has been locked-in of late for a Petes team which allows a lot of shots. The Petes are undefeated in regulation time over Wells’ last six starts, during which the 6-foot-2 netminder has a 3.10 average and .919 save percentage with a workload of 40.2 shots per game.
Any 18-year-old goalie is very much a work in progress, but Wells certainly has promise. Wells is the first OHL goalie the Oilers have drafted in 10 years and it often speaks volumes about a player’s potential when an organization goes off-menu for a pick.
New name to know: Sam Bitten, C, Ottawa 67’s (OHL)
The 16-year-old centre, who has been playing a significant role in Junior A with the Kanata Lasers of the Central Canada league, made his OHL debut last weekend after Ottawa sustained a slew of injuries. Bitten’s anticipation and quickness paid off when he scored on his first official OHL shot on goal.
Bitten is the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens prospect Will Bitten, who plays in the same division of the OHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Ottawa GM Jeff Brown has accelerated the team’s rebuilding project with a recent roster shake-up, so Bitten should gradually get more exposure to the OHL over the balance of the season.